Automated and semi-automated machines have been employed for processing documents in bulk quantities. Due to the volume and scale of commercial transactions routinely processed by many companies, there has long been a need for automated processing of mail. In this regard, automated document processing has become particularly important in the area of remittance correspondence.
Utility companies, phone companies, and credit card companies routinely receive thousands of payment envelopes from their customers on a daily basis. Typically, a customer payment envelope contains an invoice stub and some type of customer payment, usually in the form of a bank check or money order. The contents of each envelope are generally referred to as a transaction, and may consist of one or more documents including one or more invoices and one or more checks. The most common transaction consists of a single invoice stub and an accompanying check. Such transactions are typically referred to as singles transactions.
According to conventional methods of automated or semi-automated remittance processing, documents located within an envelope, such as an invoice and an accompanying check, are processed by being extracted from the envelope, placed in the proper sequence and orientation, and then stacked into groups or batches of documents. The extracting, sequencing and orienting of the invoices and checks has been effected both manually and by the use of automated or semi-automated equipment. The envelope used to carry the documents into the system for sorting is typically directed by the system for disposal upon extraction of its contents.
In certain applications, it is desirable to obtain information from the envelope before discarding the envelope. For instance, insurance renewals are time-sensitive. If a renewal payment is received after a renewal date, then the policy may lapse. In such instances it is desirable to read the post-mark on the face of the envelope to determine when the payment was mailed.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus and method are provided for extracting documents from envelopes, reordering and reorienting the documents, and acquiring and storing data regarding the envelopes so that the association among the documents in the transactions relative to the envelope indicia is known and available for further verification and/or administrative use.